Container

ABSTRACT

A shipping container having the ability to nest when not in use includes a pair of substantially identical or generally similar sleeve members closed at one end, open at the other end and having side walls of semi-rigid material formed into extensive corrugations. The open end of one member is sleeved over the open end of the other member causing the side walls to engage each other in respective inner and outer telescoped arrangements. A band surrounding the outer side walls helps draw mating wall corrugations into extensive close, reinforcing engagement.

United States Patent [191 Kivett [451 Aug. 26, 1975 CONTAINER [76]Inventor: Jerome S. Kivett, c/o Regal Plastic Company, 1725 Holmes,Kansas City, Mo. 64108 22 Filed: Sept. 18,1972

21 App]. No.2 290,012

[52] US. Cl 220/8; 206/515; 220/4 B;

220/72 [51] Int. Cl B65d 1/44; B65d 21/04 [58] Field of Search 220/97 F,4 B, 4 E, 8, 220/72, 515, 519, 520; 206/65 B; 229/21 [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,113,683 4/1938 De Witt 220/72 2,620,11912/1952 George 229/21 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,003,904 9/1965United Kingdom"; 220/8 Primary ExaminerGeorge E. Lowrance Attorney,Agent, or F irmFishburn, Gold & Litman [57] 7 ABSTRACT A shippingcontainer having the ability to nest when not in use includes a pair ofsubstantially identical or generally similar sleeve members closed atone end, open at the other end and having side walls of semirigidmaterial formed into extensive corrugations. The open end of one memberis sleeved over the open end of the other member causing the side wallsto engage each other in respective inner and outer telescopedarrangements. A band surrounding the outer side walls helps draw matingwall corrugations into extensive close, reinforcing engagement.

8 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAUBZBIQYS 3,901,406

CONTAINER This invention relates to shipping containers and moreparticularly to containers which are closed during use but may be nestedinto each other for storage and handling advantages during other times.

Reusable, closable, rigid shipping containers of the simple lid-and-boxtype normally include an integral, comparatively deep, open-toprectangular box and an integral, shallow, overlapping lid. Some simple,rigid containers, particularly the smaller variety designed to becarried by hand, have an integral lid with side walls coextensive inheight with the box. Regardless of the type, unless the walls aretapered, the unassembled lids and boxes of simple containerscannot benested, creating storage and shipping problems. However, tapering theside walls interferes with proper fit and sharply reduces wall strengthof the assembled box. These difficulties result in a substantialincrease in cost over that which would exist if the top and bottomportions of simple containers could be nested when unassembled but theoverlapping walls maintained in close, reinforcing contact whenassembled. Further savings obviously could be realized if the lids andboxes were substantially identical in configuration.

The principal objects of the present invention are: to provide areusable, simple shipping container comprised of a pair of substantiallyidentical or generally similar top and bottom members; to provide simplecontainer top and bottom members which easily nest respectively withineach other during non-use; to provide such a container arrangement whichis versatile, exhibits high wall strength and a marked resistanceagainst damage due to rough handling; to provide such a container whichis easily filled, closed, loaded, shipped and unpacked; to provide suchcontainer members which may be rapidly and inexpensively manufactured byhigh volume production facilities; and to provide such container memberswhich are extremely well suited for their intended purpose.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein are set forth by way of illustration and examplescertain embodiments of this invention.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a pair of separatedsleeve members, embodying this invention, arranged to produce a closedshipping container upon engagement.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a typical, closed, container.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view showing one corner of a sleeve memberfrom an open end, and particularly the side wall corrugations.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional side elevation showing a cornerof a sleeve member.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation illustrating several sleeve 7 members innested condition.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional side elevation of a modifiedform of container bottom member wherein the corrugations extendsubstantially to the bottom surface.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side elevation of a modified form of containerlid, or top member, having the upper side wall portions lacking draftand the corrugationsextending substantially to the top surface. I

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a typical, closed container formed fromthe modified members of FIGS. 6 and 7.

Referring to the drawings in more detail:

The reference numeral 1, FIG. 2, generally indicates a closed shippingcontainer embodying this invention. The container 1 is comprised of apair of sleeve members 2 and 3, FIG. 1, of substantially identical sizeand configuration and constructed of a semi-rigid material, such aslinear polyethylene, of a suitable gage in accordance with the strengthand flexibility desired.

The sleeve'members 2 and 3, in this example, respectively have four sidewalls 4, 5, 6 and 7 and an end wall 8 joined together formingreceptacles 9 and 10 each with an open end 11 and 12 opposed to the endwall 8.

The side walls 4, 5,6 and 7 consist of a plurality of adjacentcorrugations 13, of gradually decreasing depth, projecting from therespective open ends 1 l and 12 substantially to the end walls 8 of thesleeve member. As best shown by the upper sleeve member in FIG. 1, theside walls 4, S, 6 and 7 normally taper or incline outwardly away fromeach other toward the open end whereby the respective sleeve members areadapted to nest into each other when the end walls 8 are arranged toproject in the same direction, nested members being shown in FIG. 5.

In use, one of the sleeve members, in this example sleeve member 2, FIG.1, is loaded with suitable goods (not shown) secured in trays 14. Priorto the loading of sleeve member 2, or subsequent to the loadingdepending upon the character of the load, a temporary band 15 is placedaround the exterior of the sleeve member and tightened, causing adecrease in the normal size of the open end 11 through an elasticreduction in the horizontal width of the side walls. The reduction is aresult of slight deformations in the corrugations 13, the deformation inrespective corrugations varying from substantially zero near the endwall 8 to a maximum at the open end 11. The decrease in size of the openend 11 permits the undistorted open end 12 of the sleeve member 3 to besleeved thereover whereupon the temporary band 15 is removed and thesleeve member 3 urged downwardly substantially to the position shown inFIG. 2. This causes the side walls of the sleeve member 2 to take bothan inner position and decreased size while the side walls of the sleevemember 3 take an outer position telescoped thereover. A shipping band 16is then tightened about the exterior of the sleeve member 3, drawing theinner and outer side wall corrugations into extensive reinforcingengagement and squared configuration. The band 16 is suitably locked intightened condition, thus producing the sealed container as depicted inFIG. 2.

Upon reaching the intended destination, the band 16 is removed and thesleeve member 3 lifted to reveal the open end sleeve member 2, with itsside walls again tapered or inclined outwardly to provide easy accessfor removing the contents. If the container parts are to be returned orstored in empty-condition, the sleeve member 3 is merely inverted andplaced into the open end of sleeve member 2, whereupon the nesting ofFIG. 5

is achieved.

, Referring particularly to FIG. 4, the degree of taper or incline 17may vary, depending particularly upon the type of material, the depth ofnesting, the size and degree of flexibility of the corrugations, and thetendency of nested members towedge together. A typical sleeve memberwill be deep drawn from linear polyethylene of 1/16 inch to H8 inchstarting thickness, and have finished dimensions of 16 inches in depth,20 inches from side wall to side wall and approximately l/2 inch radiion the corrugations.

FlGS. 6, 7 and 8 relate to a modified form of this invention wherein thesleeve members are not substantially identical in that the lid memberand box member are respectively distinctive in configuration and size,yet still generally similar.

FIG. 6 illustrates a box member as noted above having side wall draft18, however, the side wall corrugations 19 extend substantially to thebottom wall 20 with retention of a nearly uniform depth. Likewise, thelid member of FIG. 7 bears side wall corrugations 21 extendingsubstantially to the top wall 22 with retention of a nearly uniformdepth. Further, in this example, the lid member is slightly shorter inheight than the box member and has side wall corrugations 21 which arewithout draft at upper side wall portions 23, the desired draft 24beginning at a point 25 located approximately two-fifths of the distancedown from the top wall 22. The modified box provides somewhat bettermating when joined as illustrated at 26, FIG. 8.

It is to be understood that while certain forms of this invention havebeen illustrated and described, it is not to be limited thereto exceptinsofar as such limitations are included in the following claims.

What is claimed and desired to secure by letters patent is:

1. A closed container comprising:

a. a pair of sleeve members each having a plurality of side walls joinedby corners and an end wall together defining a receptacle with an openend opposed to said end wall,

b. said side walls being formed of a semi-rigid material and into aconfiguration comprising a plurality of adjacent corrugations extendingbetween said corners, said corrugations extending longitudinally fromsaid open end to a position near said end wall,

. the open end of one of said sleeve members being 2. The container asset forth in claim 1 wherein: a. said pair of sleeve members are ofsubstantially identical size and configuration.

3. The container as set forth in claim 1 wherein: a. said corrugationsdecrease in depth as they extend toward said end wall.

4. The container as set forth in claim 1 wherein: a. said corrugationsare of nearly uniform depth along the length thereof.

5. The container as set forth in claim 1 wherein: a. said side wallsnormally taper away from each other toward said open end along at leasta portion adjacent said open end.

6. The container as set forth in claim 1 wherein: a. said pair of sleevemembers are respectively distinctive in configuration and size.

7. The container as set forth in claim 5 wherein: a. one of said sleevemembers tapers only along a portion adjacent said open end.

8. The container as set forth in claim 1 including: a. a bandsurrounding the side walls of the other of said sleeve members anddrawing the side walls of the other of said sleeve members intoreinforcing engagement with said one sleeve member side walls.

1. A closed container comprising: a. a pair of sleeve members eachhaving a plurality of side walls joined by corners and an end walltogether defining a receptacle with an open end opposed to said endwall, b. said side walls being formed of a semi-rigid material and intoa configuration comprising a plurality of adjacent corrugationsextending between said corners, said corrugations extendinglongitudinally from said open end to a position near said end wall, c.the open end of one of said sleeve members being sleeved over the openend of the other of said sleeve members causing said adjacentcorrugations of the respective walls to take inner and outercorrugation-reinforcing telescoped positions over substantially thelength of the sleeve and producing a closed container with substantialstrength against crushing between said end walls, said sleeve membersbeing respectively reversible and nestable due to radial flexibility atsaid open ends.
 2. The container as set forth in claim 1 wherein: a.said pair of sleeve members are of substantially identical size andconfiguration.
 3. The container as set forth in claim 1 wherein: a. saidcorrugations decrease in depth as they extend toward said end wall. 4.The container as set forth in claim 1 wherein: a. said corrugations areof nearly uniform depth along the length thereof.
 5. The container asset forth in claim 1 wherein: a. said side walls normally taper awayfrom each other toward said open end along at least a portion adjacentsaid open end.
 6. The container as set forth in claim 1 wherein: a. saidpair of sleeve members are respectively distinctive in configuration andsize.
 7. The container as set forth in claim 5 wherein: a. one of saidsleeve members tapers only along a portion adjacent said open end. 8.The container as set forth in claim 1 including: a. a band surroundingthe side walls of the other of said sleeve members and drawing the sidewalls of the other of said sleeve members into reinforcing engagementwith said one sleeve member side walls.